The remarkable invisibility of NHS 111 online
The remarkable invisibility of NHS 111 online
In 2017, the NHS 111 telephone service was augmented by an online service. This is an exemplar of ‘digital-first’, the push to enrol digital technologies to deliver services, and is viewed by policymakers as an important vehicle for managing demand for overburdened health services. This article reports the qualitative component of a larger multi-method study of NHS 111 online. Qualitative telephone interviews with 80 staff and stakeholders implicated in primary, urgent and emergency care service delivery explored the impact of NHS 111 online on health-care work. The analysis presented here draws on Susie Scott’s work on the ‘sociology of nothing’ and theories of the marked and unmarked, which we reached for when confronted by the remarkable invisibility of this seemingly core NHS service in the wider landscape of health care. Despite the apparently high use by patients and the public (30 million visits over 6 months in the 2020 pandemic), we were surprised to find very low awareness among our interviewees. Confusion about nomenclature, an exceedingly crowded digital field (littered with alternative technologies and ways of accessing care) and constant change in service provision provide some cogent reasons for this invisibility, and sociology helps explain our data about this digital technology.
NHS 111 online, digital health, interviews, sociology of nothing, urgent care
Pope, Catherine
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Maclellan, Jennifer
2035484c-7514-4a4b-9ad4-ef8e3fdc95e9
Prichard, Jane
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Turnbull, Joanne
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Pope, Catherine
21ae1290-0838-4245-adcf-6f901a0d4607
Maclellan, Jennifer
2035484c-7514-4a4b-9ad4-ef8e3fdc95e9
Prichard, Jane
64ba5e39-0b0f-4529-877f-aa6ecc7e7e2e
Turnbull, Joanne
cd1f8462-d698-4a90-af82-46c39536694b
Pope, Catherine, Maclellan, Jennifer, Prichard, Jane and Turnbull, Joanne
(2022)
The remarkable invisibility of NHS 111 online.
Sociology of Health & Illness.
(doi:10.1111/1467-9566.13591).
Abstract
In 2017, the NHS 111 telephone service was augmented by an online service. This is an exemplar of ‘digital-first’, the push to enrol digital technologies to deliver services, and is viewed by policymakers as an important vehicle for managing demand for overburdened health services. This article reports the qualitative component of a larger multi-method study of NHS 111 online. Qualitative telephone interviews with 80 staff and stakeholders implicated in primary, urgent and emergency care service delivery explored the impact of NHS 111 online on health-care work. The analysis presented here draws on Susie Scott’s work on the ‘sociology of nothing’ and theories of the marked and unmarked, which we reached for when confronted by the remarkable invisibility of this seemingly core NHS service in the wider landscape of health care. Despite the apparently high use by patients and the public (30 million visits over 6 months in the 2020 pandemic), we were surprised to find very low awareness among our interviewees. Confusion about nomenclature, an exceedingly crowded digital field (littered with alternative technologies and ways of accessing care) and constant change in service provision provide some cogent reasons for this invisibility, and sociology helps explain our data about this digital technology.
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The remarkable invisibility of NHS 111 online - final peer reviewed version
- Accepted Manuscript
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Sociology Health Illness - 2022 - Pope - The remarkable invisibility of NHS 111 online
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Accepted/In Press date: 9 November 2022
e-pub ahead of print date: 29 November 2022
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Funding Information:
We would like to thank the research participants and organisations that supported the study. We are very grateful to our wider research team and our PPI lead, David Browne, and PPI members from Groundswell, Sheffield Deep End and to the PPI members on our Steering Group for their input on the project. The anonymous reviewers helped us polish the manuscript, and we thank them for taking the time to do this vital but often hidden part of the publication process. Last, but not least, we thank Anne Rogers, Sue Ziebland and Sharon Dixon for believing that nothing was something. This study was funded by the NIHR HS&DR Programme (project number 127590) and will be published in full in Health and Social Care Delivery Research. Further information is available at https://fundingawards.nihr.ac.uk/award/NIHR127590 . Catherine Pope holds an NIHR Senior Investigator award (202396). This paper reports independent research commissioned by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). The views expressed are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the NIHR or the Department of Health and Social Care.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Authors. Sociology of Health & Illness published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Foundation for the Sociology of Health & Illness.
Keywords:
NHS 111 online, digital health, interviews, sociology of nothing, urgent care
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 473599
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/473599
ISSN: 0141-9889
PURE UUID: 94912a82-3b88-4a1d-b689-38f0e79a8db8
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Date deposited: 24 Jan 2023 17:45
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 02:46
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Author:
Catherine Pope
Author:
Jennifer Maclellan
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